CANADA GOOSE, 177 



stand, or hovel, as they are called, is occupied by only 

 a single person. These attend the flight of the birds, 

 and, on their approach, mimic their cackle so well, that 

 the geese will answer, and wheel, and come nearer the 

 stand. The sportsman keeps motionless, and on his 

 knees, with his gun cocked the whole time, and never 

 fires till he has seen the eyes of the geese. He fires 

 as they are going from him, then picks up another 

 gun that lies by him and discharges that. The geese 

 which he has killed he sets upon sticks, as if alive, to 

 decoy others ; he also makes artificial birds for the same 

 purpose. In a good day, for they fly in very uncertain 

 and unequal numbers, a single Indian will kill two 

 hundred. Notwithstanding every species of goose has 

 a different call, yet the Indians are admirable in their 

 imitations of every one. The autumnal flight lasts from 

 the middle of August to the middle of October ; those 

 which are taken in this season, when the frosts begin, 

 are preserved in their feathers, and left to be frozen for 

 the fresh provisions of the winter stock. The feathers 

 constitute an article of commerce, and are sent to 

 England. 



The vernal flight of the geese lasts from the middle 

 of April until the middle of May. Their first appear- 

 ance coincides with the thawing of the swamps, when 

 they are very lean. Their arrival from the south is 

 impatiently attended ; it is the harbinger of the spring, 

 and the month named by the Indians the goose moon. 

 They appear usually at their settlements about St 

 George's day, O. S. and fly northward, to nestle in 

 security. They prefer islands to the continent, as 

 farther from the haunts of man. * 



After such prodigious havoc as thus appears to be 

 made among these birds, and their running the gauntlet, 

 if I may so speak, for many hundreds of miles through 

 such destructive fires, no wonder they should have 

 become more scarce, as well as shy, by the time they 

 reach the shores of the United States. 



* Arctic Zoology. 

 VOL. III. M 



